Reflections of a multidimensional sunbaked servant of the Most High. Powered by Loveforce. Emitting Soulforce.

Monday, December 1, 2014

Collective Approach to Climate Change

Off the Wall for 1st
October

"The
destruction of the earth’s environment is the human rights challenge of our
time.”

These are the words of South African Archbishop Desmond
Tutu, who added that the worst consequences of a warming planet were
"being visited on the world's poor."

“Over the 25 years that climate change has been
on the world’s agenda Global emissions have risen unchecked while real world
impacts have taken hold in earnest.Time
is running out.”

“We are already experiencing loss of life and
livelihood due to intensified storms, shortage of fresh water, spread of
disease, rising food prices, and the creation of climate refugees.”

“The most devastating effects are visited on the
poor, those with no involvement in creating the problem. A deep injustice.”

Archbishop
Tutu calls for the same strategies
that were so effective in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa:
sanctions and boycotts against polluters. He has called for broad-based collective
action in what he believes is a moral movement opposing unethical corporations
whose impetus towards profit outweighs all other concerns, including the
unfolding ecological crisis.

He is not alone
in speaking out and urging for action.

Last week at the
United Nations General Assembly leaders from small island nations used their
time on the world stage to urge concrete action on addressing climate change
not just as a matter of policy but as a matter of the very existence of their
land, their people and their way of life.

In their
addresses to the United Nations General Assembly, King Tupou IV of Tonga,
Fijian Prime Minister Josaia V. Bainimarama, and Prime Minister Enele Sosene
Sopoaga of Tuvalu, all reaffirmed their commitment to the fight against climate
change and for sustainable development amid growing environmental challenges
for small island developing states (SIDS).

King Tupou
called on Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to appoint a Special Representative on
Climate Change and Security “to research this linkage and report back to Member
States.”

Fijian Prime
Minister Josaia V. Bainimarama called on neighbouring Member States to urgently
unite in the implementation of more sustainable and climate-friendly policies,
while also criticizing industrialized nations for not doing more to reduce
their impact on the environment.

“History will
judge the world’s major carbon emitters extremely harshly unless they take
immediate and comprehensive steps to reduce emissions. It is simply not
acceptable – purely in moral terms – for the world to allow the small island
developing states to sink slowly beneath the waves because of the selfish
determination of industrialised nations to protect their own economies,” he
continued.

Tuvalu’s Prime
Minister, Enele Sosene Sopoaga, warned General Assembly delegates that,
“Tuvalu’s security and survival and the future and human rights of its citizens
are seriously being compromised. We cannot continue along this path.” He
suggested an “urgent need for reforms” in the UN Security Council and the
expansion of the body’s agenda to include climate change as a central issue.

Earlier, a young
Pacific-Island mother’s passionate speech and poem about climate change moved
world leaders attending the United Nations Climate Summit to tears.

26-year-old
Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner of the Marshall Islands read a poem “Dear Matafele Peinem,
” in which she promises her baby daughter that her home won’t be taken away by
rising sea levels.

Before reading
her poem, Jetnil-Kijiner she testified to the stark reality of climate change
and its impacts not only in the Pacific, but to other vulnerable nations around
the world.

“Those of us
from Oceania are already experiencing it first hand,” she told world leaders.
“We’ve seen waves crashing into our homes…We look at our children and wonder
how they will know themselves or their culture should we lose our islands.”

She added, “We
need a radical change of course. It means ending carbon pollution within my
lifetime. It means supporting those of us most affected to prepare for
unavoidable climate impacts. And it means taking responsibility for
irreversible loss and damage caused by greenhouse gas emissions.”

In a fortnight’s
time, three traditionally sailed canoes from Fiji, Samoa and Cook Islands will
depart Suva for Sydney, where with another canoe from Aotearoa, they will
present the Pacific’s message to the World Parks Congress. Their journey is a
call for the world to be guided by nature.

The time is well
upon all Fijians to join hands and make a stand to ensure there is a tomorrow
for our children and their children. This is an opportunity for the government,
NGOs, the Church and other communities of faith and civil society to come
together to work to address a common threat.

If we want our
children to sleep in peace, they need to know there is a future to wake up to.
They need to know that, we won’t let them down.